Advanced duodenal carcinoma: Chemotherapy efficacy and analysis of prognostic factors

Abstract Objective This study aimed to determine the efficacy of chemotherapy and to identify potential chemotherapy agents to treat advanced primary duodenal carcinoma (PDC). Methods Seventy-three patients with advanced PDC were included in the study. Response rate (RR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and prognosis were compared among patients using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results The overall RR and DCR of 52 patients were 21.15% and 69.23%, respectively. The median PFS and OS times were 4.51 and 11.47 months, respectively. Palliative chemotherapy improved the OS of patients with advanced PDC compared with patients who did not receive chemotherapy (14.28 months vs. 5.20 months, HR = 0.205, 95% CI: 0.077 to 0.547, P = 0.0016). Multivariate analysis indicated mucinous histology and liver metastasis as factors predictive of poor prognosis in patients with advanced PDC. Conclusion Palliative chemotherapy may improve the OS of patients with advanced PDC. Mucinous histology and liver metastasis were the main prognostic factors in patients with advanced PDC.